COLUMBUS — A preliminary hearing for a South Solon driver accused of fatally injuring a Barnesville man in a construction zone early Saturday morning has been scheduled for Oct. 10 in the Franklin County Municipal Court. Edward A. Torres, 30, is facing one count of aggravated vehicular homicide while impaired, a second-degree felony, and aggravated vehicular homicide while driving reckless in a construction zone, a third-degree felony, according to the court’s website. Torres is suspected of being impaired when he struck and killed Steve L. Cook, 59, on Interstate 70 in Franklin County. Torres was released from the Franklin County Jail after Callif Bonding LLC posted a surety bond on his behalf. He was ordered not to consume alcohol or abuse drugs as a condition of his bond. A 2009 Honda Odyssey operated by Torres entered the eastbound lanes of I-70 at Hilliard-Rome Road at 1:35 a.m. Saturday before moving into the construction zone where three right lanes were closed to traffic. He passed a marked deputy sheriff’s cruiser that had emergency lights activated. “He drove around barricades and around construction equipment before striking a worker,” said Columbus police Sgt. Brooke Wilson, who oversees the Accident Investigation Unit. According to the affidavit, “Mr. Torres came upon a large pavement roller in the middle lane of those closed lanes and switched to the rightmost lane. Mr. Torres took his eyes off the roadway to look down at his cellular phone and when he raised his head to look back at the roadway there was a construction worker … directly in front of him.” The Odyssey then struck Cook, who was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center and pronounced dead. Investigators noticed Torres had an open container of an alcoholic beverage in the cup holder of the Odyssey just adjacent to the steering wheel, according to the affidavit. He told authorities he had a few beers to drink. Investigators reported he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. Court records show Torres was convicted of an operating while impaired charge stemming from a 2008 stop when he was 21 years old. In that case, he did not have have the headlights of the vehicle turned on and attempted to turn where there was no road. His blood alcohol came back at .203 — more than twice the legal limit (0.08) in Ohio, Clark County records show.

Michigan State Police are investigating a Roseville judge’s alleged involvement in a hit-and-run traffic incident.

Judge Catherine Steenland of the 39th District Court in Roseville refused to cooperate with police officers who responded to the scene of an incident and her vehicle was impounded, WWJ-AM (950) reported while citing unidentified authorities.

“A compliant was made, and as Judge Steenland is a sitting judge responsible for the city of Roseville, the matter was turned over to the Michigan State Police for investigation,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said in a news release Monday morning.

State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said the matter was turned over by Roseville police last week.

“They took the report and figured it was a judge in their jurisdiction, so they turned it over to us,” Shaw told The Macomb Daily Tuesday morning. “We are currently investigating it. We haven’t interviewed the judge.”

Shaw is not sure when an investigator will attempt to contact Steenland to arrange an interview.

Details about the traffic incident have not been released.

Steenland has been on medical leave since July 21, but took a few days off prior to that due to pain, Chief Judge Marco Santia told The Macomb Daily.

“I have not talked to her since I was notified about what happened,” Santia said.

He said Steenland is scheduled to return to work from medical leave on Oct. 17.

“Because of the matter being in the public eye, I’m probably going to have that discussion” sooner, Santia said.

The chief judge said the police chief officially notified him on Monday about the hit-and-run incident.

“But I had heard some rumors the week before,” said Santia, who added that he heard the incident occurred Sept. 27.

The 39th District Court’s jurisdiction also includes the city of Fraser.

Steenland wound up on the opposite side of the bench after she was arrested in June 2008 and charged with drunken driving for an incident near West Branch in Ogemaw County.

Steenland, 41 at the time, initially told a Michigan State Police trooper she had not been drinking and that she tried to turn the vehicle around in a driveway but backed up too far, plunging into a ditch. She admitted she had a couple of beers but insisted she was not drunk. According to a police report of that incident, Steenland failed four field sobriety tests, including at least five attempts to recite the alphabet.

She later pleaded guilty to driving while impaired by alcohol. At her sentencing in July 2008, Steenland was ordered to serve 31 days in jail, with credit for one day behind bars. The sentencing judge suspended the balance of the jail term on the condition Steenland complete six months informal probation in which she was required to attend an alcohol highway safety program, a victim impact panel and pay $100 in prosecution costs. She also was ordered to pay fines and fees totaling $700.

The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission later accused her of misconduct, stemming from her arrest. In lieu of a formal complaint, the judicial board and Steenland reached a settlement agreement that called for her censure and 90-day suspension from the district court bench without pay.

Pardon the pun, but the marijuana industry has been growing like a weed for years — and it has rapidly changing perceptions about the drug among the public to thank for it.

According to a CBS News poll conducted in July 1979, just 27% of those surveyed believed marijuana should be legal. Comparatively, 69% thought it shouldn’t be legal. Fast-forward to April 2017, and CBS News’ latest survey finds that an all-time record of 61% believe pot should be legal nationally, while just 33% now oppose the idea. This growing acceptance and favorability of marijuana has some pro-legalization enthusiasts and investors thinking that lawmakers on Capitol Hill may be coerced to change the drug’s scheduling sooner rather than later.

The result of this shift in opinion on pot has dramatically boosted sales of the drug in the United States. A Marijuana Business Daily report released this year estimates that legal-cannabis sales could grow by around 30% in 2018, and by an aggregate of 300% between 2016 and 2021 to approximately $17 billion. It’s this shifting opinion and rapid growth rate that have marijuana stock investors so excited about the industry’s prospects.

Marijuana’s huge speed bump in the road

But there’s one catch, and it’s a pretty big one: Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. As a Schedule I substance, it has no recognized medical benefits and is considered to be on par with heroin and LSD.

During the Obama administration, the Cole memo, named for President Obama’s deputy attorney general, James Cole, acted as a guide for how the federal government and legalizing states would coexist. According to the memo, states would be allowed to legalize and expand cannabis programs as long as they held to strict regulations, including ensuring that no minors got their hands on cannabis, and that states set strict regulations for driving under the influence. It also meant states had to take extra precautions to ensure that marijuana wasn’t trafficked interstate.

During the Obama presidency, federal regulators were generally hands-off when it came to the practices of individual states. Under the Trump administration, that may soon change.

In February, now-former White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggested that the Trump administration would take a more hands-on approach to regulating pot relative to the previous administration, though he failed to elaborate exactly what that might entail.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, leaves nothing to hide when it comes to his feelings about marijuana.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions strikes fear in the marijuana industry

For example, in May, Sessions sent a letter to congressional leaders asking them to repeal the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which protects marijuana businesses in legal states from federal prosecution. In other words, Sessions has been looking for the OK from his peers from the get-go to go after medical-marijuana businesses. This action would build on previous commentshe’s made suggesting crime follows drug use, and that cannabis is anything but medicine.

Sessions recently doubled down on his anti-marijuana view by candidly responding to a reporter’s question during a press conference in San Diego following a record-breaking narcotics seizure. According to Reuters, Sessions reminded everyone in the room that the federal law banning the sale of marijuana “remains in effect,” and that “I’ve never felt that we should legalize marijuana.” These 11 words are everything you need to know about the head of the Justice Department in regard to how he feels about weed.

The silver lining for pot businesses and marijuana stocks to this point has been the adherence to the Cole memo, as well as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which hasn’t allowed federal funding to be used to prosecute cannabis companies. But the tide may be shifting, which could give Sessions the ammo he needs to shut down legal-weed operations.

For instance, the House Rules Committee last month blocked a vote on the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, which would provide the exact same exemptions for pot businesses in legal states as in previous years. This is an amendment that has to be voted on and added to the budget each and every year. The blockage of this vote by the House may keep the amendment out of the 2018 budget, paving the way for Sessions to wreak havoc by using federal dollars to prosecute medical-cannabis businesses.

Marijuana isn’t a priority for Congress

Even if marijuana stocks and pro-legalization enthusiasts manage to catch a break by having the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment included thanks to its passage in the Senate, there’s still not a whole lot to cheer about. When push comes to shove, marijuana remains a very low priority for lawmakers in Washington, despite the shifting sentiment among the public.

Over the past couple of months, lawmakers have been devoting nearly their entire dockets to healthcare reform and tax reform. On top of these potentially major legislative changes, there’s the federal budget, the debt-ceiling debate, and Trump’s desire for an infrastructure bill. There’s next to no incentive, or time, for lawmakers in Washington to focus on legalizing cannabis.

Even if there were time, this Congress seems highly unlikely to pass any favorable weed laws. Aside from Jeff Sessions’ being dead set against seeing marijuana expand any further, Republicans remain in control of both houses of Congress. According to a Gallup October 2016 poll, Republicans are just one of two groups still opposed to the expansion of weed, along with senior citizens.

With the deck still stacked against marijuana stocks, and expected to remain that way for years to come, investors should do their best to temper their expectations.

Say Goodbye to the Old iPhone: This Could Be 40X BetteriPhone mania is back, and there’s potentially billions up for grabs. But if you think Apple is the best way to play the pending iPhone tsunami, think again. One tiny company holds the patents to an invaluable, tiny component inside Apple’s newest iPhone — and Apple has to pay up every time it puts this technology in its phones.

MCDONOUGH, Ga. – A south metro school superintendent is retiring after causing an accident while allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested and jailed for the incident on Sunday.

According to authorities, Rockdale County Public Schools Superintendent Richard Autry was driving along Hwy. 155 on Sunday around 7:30 p.m. when he rear-ended another car.

Witness statements in a police report said Autry was speeding in his Chevrolet truck as he approached the intersection. When he hit the other car, it reportedly spun into oncoming traffic and traveled more than 150 feet from impact before knocking down mailboxes at a Sunoco gas station.

Photos from the scene show extensive damage to both cars.

According to a McDonough police report, investigators determined speed was a major factor in the accident and determined that, because there were no skid marks at the scene, it appeared Autry did not “attempt to brake before impact.” However, investigators concluded he swerved at the last second based on patterns of damage.

When officers arrived, they noted Autry “was leaning heavily on one of the [gas] pumps,” had “bloodshot eyes” and was showing signs of being impaired. He told them that he had been at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant earlier, watching the Falcons game and drinking beer. They performed a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer, which showed Autry’s BAC was 0.195, more than twice the legal limit.

Because of that, they charged Autry with driving under the influence of alcohol and following too closely. He was arrested and taken to the Henry County jail and bonded out shortly before midnight the same night.

On Thursday, just days after the incident, Autry announced he would retire from his position as superintendent.

“Although this was not an easy decision, I must put my family and personal circumstances first at this time,” Autry said in a statement through the school district.

While Rockdale County Schools would not comment publicly on the DUI charge because of pending litigation, the district directed 11Alive to its drug-free workplace policy.

That policy states, “The Board hereby declares that the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession, use, or being under the influence of a controlled substance or alcohol is prohibited in the workplace for all school system employees. A violation of this policy or a conviction under the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 may result in termination of employment.”

Autry was with the district for almost 2 decades, serving in various roles within the district, including as a teacher, coach, principal, and others. He was credited with several successes in the district.

“We wish Mr. Autry the best with his retirement,” said school Board Chairman Jim McBrayer. “We appreciate all that he has done for the children and families of Rockdale County over the years.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A bus driver who barreled through a red light and slammed into another bus in New York City this month, killing himself and two others, had a history of accidents and a recent conviction for driving drunk, but he was legally allowed to drive under federal rules that grant one strike before banning a driver for life.

Raymond Mong lost a job as a New York City bus driver in 2015 after pleading guilty to an off-duty, hit-and-run, drunken-driving crash in Connecticut. He was still serving 18 months’ probation when he got into another crash in his personal vehicle in June of 2016.

Neither of those wrecks, though, kept him from legally getting behind the wheel of a bus again.

He got a job with a charter company and had a valid commercial driver’s license on Sept. 18 when he powered his empty bus through an intersection in Queens at nearly twice the 30 mph (48 kph) speed limit, hit another bus, plowed onto a sidewalk and crashed into a building, police said. Sixteen people were hurt in addition to the three killed.

It isn’t clear exactly when Mong started driving for the charter company, a small outfit called the Dahlia Group.

It’s possible his out-of-state conviction slipped through the cracks. Private motorcoach operators aren’t required by federal law to do a criminal background check on employees, though the rules differ for school bus drivers or anyone carrying hazardous materials. And there’s no clearinghouse where companies can search a prospective employee’s criminally bad driving record.

New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles is supposed to be informed whenever a driver is hired so it can run various background checks, but a spokeswoman for the agency said Dahlia never did so.

But even if that notification had been made, it wouldn’t necessarily have precluded Mong from driving.

“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” Yogi Berra. But remember, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers.